On Tue, 2002-08-13 at 14:33, Hewitt Tech wrote: [snip]
> This probably doesn't matter when a disruptive > technology is in progress but it seems to me that the real assets of most > high tech companies are there employees. [snip] Absolutely! I have often said that the absolute most valuable asset any company has (particularly in tech companies) is an asset it doesn't own -- its people. Of course, that's why in this field we're all coerced into signing employee agreements that give up rights to our own grey matter. The big time investors (not all of them, just those who are clueless about technology) spurred on by their lawyers have to have *some* way of extracting value from the people that actual *build* the companies in question so that they can be expendable. In reality, ideas have little value without A-player teams to make them work. Any VC or private large sum investor who doesn't understand this, deserves any big losses he incurs as a result. Read some of startup.com's principles (if they're still around ;-)). Startup.com won't sign NDA's. Why? Too many ideas are too similar, no matter how unique those who have them think they are. How do you keep all those ideas separated in your head? You can't, really. Startup.com basically believes that it's the *team* that makes a great company and is what is needed to make an idea work. Though startup.com and companies like it may not be all that 'hot' today, we'd all be better off if at least that idea caught on a little more in this society. -- -Paul Iadonisi Senior System Administrator Red Hat Certified Engineer / Local Linux Lobbyist Ever see a penguin fly? -- Try Linux. GPL all the way: Sell services, don't lease secrets _______________________________________________ gnhlug-discuss mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
